Sivakant Tiwari

Sivakant Tiwari
Born Sivakant Tiwari son of Thakurprasad Tiwari
(1945-12-20)20 December 1945
India
Died 26 July 2010(2010-07-26) (aged 64)
Singapore
Nationality Singaporean
Alma mater University of Singapore (LL.B., 1971)
Occupation Legal officer
Employer Singapore Legal Service
Term 1971–2007
Religion Hindu[1]
Awards P.P.A.(E.) (1984), P.B.S. (1996), P.P.A.(E.)(L.) (2000), P.J.G. (2008)

Sivakant Tiwari, P.P.A.(E.), P.B.S., P.P.A.(E.)(L.), P.J.G. (20 December 1945 – 26 July 2010), known professionally as S. Tiwari, was a senior legal officer of the Singapore Legal Service. He was educated at the University of Singapore, graduating in law in 1971. He then made the Legal Service his career, serving as head of the Ministry of Defence's legal department (1974), and head of the Attorney-General's Chambers' Civil Division (1987) and International Affairs Division (1995). He was lead counsel in three significant commissions of inquiry arising out of fatal incidents in the 1970s and 1980s. A skilled negotiator, Tiwari was a member of the Singapore delegation which dealt with the United States – Singapore Free Trade Agreement signed in 2003, and served as legal adviser to the delegation which established diplomatic relations between Singapore and the People's Republic of China. He was also on Singapore's legal team in a case concluded in 2003 that had been brought by Malaysia to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea for provisional measures against alleged damage to its territorial waters due to land reclamation by Singapore, and in the territorial dispute with Malaysia over Pedra Branca before the International Court of Justice in 2007.

Tiwari retired from the Legal Service in 2007 but was re-employed by the Attorney-General's Chambers as a special consultant, and in that year was appointed by the World Trade Organization as a panellist for the first international adjudication of enforcement provisions in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights in a dispute between China and the United States. He later became a senior visiting fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. The founding president of the Hindi Society (Singapore) in 1990, he continued acting as principal of the Society's Hindi Centres in his retirement.

Tiwari was a recipient of the Pingat Pentadbiran Awam (Emas) (Public Administration Medal (Gold), 1984), the Pingat Bakti Setia (Long Service Award, 1996), the Public Administration Medal (Gold) (Bar) (2000), and the Pingat Jasa Gemilang (Meritorious Service Medal, 2008).

Early years and education

Sivakant Tiwari was born in India on 20 December 1945.[2] His father was a clerk and his mother a housewife. He came to Singapore at a young age, and studied at Monk's Hill Primary School and Raffles Institution.[3] Tiwari's father Thakurprasad Tiwari[4] had wanted him to become a doctor, but after an incident during a biology laboratory session in which he was shocked when an insufficiently chloroformed hamster he was about to dissect revived, he chose to study law at the University of Singapore instead. A student of Professor S. Jayakumar (who became Minister for Law, and later Senior Minister and Co-ordinating Minister for National Security),[5] he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) in 1971.[6]

Career

The former Attorney-General's Chambers on High Street between 1971 and 1991. The building is now Block C of Parliament House.

Upon graduation, Tiwari joined the government service as a legal officer in April 1971.[2] He eventually spent his entire working life – 36 years – with the Singapore Legal Service. He became head of the legal department at the Ministry of Defence in 1974. After being posted to the Attorney-General's Chambers in 1978 as Deputy Senior State Counsel, he was appointed Senior State Counsel in 1984 and subsequently headed the Civil Division in October 1987 and the International Affairs Division of the Chambers from 1 July 1995[7] when it was formed that year.[2][6][8]

Tiwari was lead counsel in three major public inquiries: the 1978 inquiry into the explosion and fire aboard the Greek tanker S.T. Spyros that killed 76 people;[9] the 1984 commission of inquiry into the collision of the drillship Eniwetok into the Sentosa cableway, causing the deaths of seven people when two cable-cars fell into the ocean;[10] and the inquiry into the collapse of Hotel New World in 1988.[6][11] As Deputy Senior State Counsel, he also represented the state in a number of important cases. In 1985, he successfully argued before Justice T. S. Sinnathuray in the High Court that since the Military Court of Appeal was a superior court of record, its jurisdiction and the exercise of its powers to hear appeals from subordinate military courts could not be challenged in the High Court by way of judicial review.[12] He also acted for the Government in the 1988 habeas corpus applications of persons detained under the Internal Security Act[13] during Operation Spectrum before the High Court in De Souza Kevin Desmond v. Minister for Home Affairs[14] and Teo Soh Lung v. Minister for Home Affairs,[15] and in the appeal from those judgments to the Court of Appeal in Chng Suan Tze v. Minister for Home Affairs.[16] In the latter case, the Court of Appeal held in a landmark decision that the executive's decision to detain a person under the Act on national security grounds was reviewable by the courts. The effect of this decision was legislatively reversed in 1989, and Tiwari also represented the Government in challenges to the legality of the amending legislation in the case of Teo Soh Lung v. Minister for Home Affairs.[17]

Tiwari acted as legal advisor to the Singapore team to the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations, serving in particular as Singapore's lead negotiator for intellectual property issues during the Uruguay Round. In addition, he was chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Working Group on Intellectual Property for six years, and of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum's Intellectual Property Experts' Group from 2005 to 2007.[2][18] He was a member of the Singapore delegation which negotiated the United States – Singapore Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed on 6 May 2003, and led negotiations for the FTA's Intellectual Property and Dispute Settlement Chapters. He also led talks relating to numerous investment agreements on Singapore's behalf, including those with Iran, Oman, Russia and Saudi Arabia; and assisted with the drafting of various ASEAN legal instruments, including the Framework Agreement on Enhancing ASEAN Economic Cooperation, the Agreement on the Common Effective Preferential Tariff Scheme for the ASEAN Free Trade Area, the ASEAN Protocol on Enhanced Dispute Settlement Mechanism, and the ASEAN Framework Agreement for the Integration of the Priority Sectors.[2]

The International Court of Justice in session in the Grand Hall of Justice of the Peace Palace in The Hague on 10 December 2009

Tiwari was one of the first legal officers who specialized in public international law when the International Affairs Division of the Attorney-General's Chambers was established.[5] He was part of the Singapore team to the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea and helped to frame important provisions in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS),[19] which Singapore acceded to on 17 November 1994.[20] He also headed negotiations which culminated in the signing of a pact in 1994 delineating a new boundary between Malaysia and Singapore in the Straits of Johor.[21] Tiwari was on Singapore's legal team in a case brought by Malaysia to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea for provisional measures against alleged damage to its territorial waters due to land reclamation by Singapore in Tuas. On 8 October 2003, the Tribunal declined to prescribe provisional measures, stating that Malaysia had not shown that there was a situation of urgency or any risk that its rights to its territorial sea would suffer irreversible damage pending consideration of the merits of the case.[22] Having been involved in the territorial dispute between Singapore and Malaysia over Pedra Branca, Middle Rocks and South Ledge for almost 30 years, including leading bilateral negotiations to attempt a settlement and later to conclude the special agreement submitting the dispute to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), he was part of the team that presented Singapore's case before the ICJ in 2007. The following year, the Court ruled that Singapore had sovereignty over Pedra Branca.[6] Tiwari was also legal adviser to the delegation which negotiated the agreement establishing diplomatic relations between Singapore and the People's Republic of China,[5] and was a member of the Hindu Endowments Board (from 2 May 1983),[23] the Hindu Advisory Board which advises the Government and the Hindu Endowments Board on matters relating to the Hindu religion and custom,[24] and the board of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore.[25]

Later life

Despite retiring from the Legal Service in December 2007,[8] Tiwari was re-employed by the Attorney-General's Chambers as a special consultant until December 2008.[2] On 13 December 2007, he was appointed by the World Trade Organization as a panellist for the first international adjudication of enforcement provisions in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights in a dispute between China and the United States.[26] Following his stint as a consultant, he became a senior visiting fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. He was appointed to the board of governors of the IP Academy, an organization providing training and conducting research in intellectual property matters, on 1 February 2009.[27] He was also Secretary of the Kreta Ayer People's Foundation and patron of the Siglap South Management Committee.[3]

Tiwari was the founding president of the Hindi Society (Singapore) and continued to serve as principal of the Hindi Centres managed by the Society in his retirement years.[28] In 1989 he had been elected to chair a pro tempore committee to look into the study of Hindi, and met the Minister for Education Dr. Tony Tan Keng Yam to request that Hindi be allowed to be learned as a second language by students. On 6 October 1989, the Minister announced that Hindi – along with Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi and Urdu – would be offered as a second language in secondary schools up to the O-level standard. While the Ministry would provide premises for the lessons, students had to make their own arrangements for teachers. The pro tem committee arranged for the first Hindi classes for secondary school students on 21 January 1990 and, after registering as the Hindi Society (Singapore) on 4 August 1990, began primary school classes the next day.[29] Tiwari was also Vice-President of the Board for the Teaching and Testing of South Asian Languages.[30]

On 25 July 2010, Tiwari had a severe headache and was taken to hospital and operated upon. However, while sedated, he suffered a fatal aneurysm and cerebral haemorrhage, and died shortly before noon on 26 July 2010 aged 64 years. He was cremated that evening. He was survived by his wife Mrs. Teekeshwari Tiwari; his three children, daughter Lachimi and sons Rama and Anand; and his sister Sushila.[6][31]

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong wrote in his letter of condolence to Mrs. Tiwari that her husband "did much to advance Singapore's interests internationally. He was a determined, patient and skilful negotiator. He held his own against diplomats and lawyers from other countries and could be counted upon to deliver results for Singapore."[8] In a tribute published in The Straits Times on 27 July 2010, Senior Minister and Co-ordinating Minister for National Security S. Jayakumar said that Tiwari "was much respected, not just by his colleagues in the Singapore public service, but in Asean and internationally. Whether negotiating bilateral agreements or at international conferences, he achieved the reputation among other delegations as a tough, fair-minded and skilful negotiator."[5] Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said in a condolence letter of 29 July that "Singapore has lost an outstanding legal public officer".[32]

Awards and honours

Tiwari was awarded the Pingat Pentadbiran Awam (Emas) (Public Administration Medal (Gold)) in 1984 for directing investigations into the Sentosa cable car tragedy, and for his involvement in drafting much of the defence-related legislation during the early years of the Ministry of Defence.[33] In 1996 he received the Pingat Bakti Setia (Long Service Award),[34] and in 2000 an additional Lintang or Bar for his Public Administration Medal (Gold).[35] For his contributions to the Pedra Branca case, he was conferred the Pingat Jasa Gemilang (Meritorious Service Medal) in 2008.[4][6]

Selected works

Articles and book chapters

Books

Notes

  1. ↑ Asad Latif (2 August 2010), "No rest for a true karma yogi", The Straits Times, p. A17, Mr Tiwari was a devout Hindu, which is to say that he saw no reason to defend his religion by putting down others.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mr Sivakant Tiwari, 20 Dec 1945 – 26 Jul 2010, Attorney-General's Chambers, 26 July 2010, archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2010, retrieved 2 August 2010.
  3. 1 2 "Tribute to the late Sivakant Tiwari Ji", Hindi Society (Singapore) Newsletter, vol. 4, August 2010, archived from the original (PDF) on 24 August 2010, retrieved 24 August 2010
  4. 1 2 National Day Awards to Recognise Special Contribution for Pedra Branca Case, Prime Minister's Office, 11 December 2008, archived from the original on 1 August 2010, retrieved 31 July 2010.
  5. 1 2 3 4 S. Jayakumar (27 July 2010), "A man respected at home and abroad: Tribute by Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security, Professor S. Jayakumar, to the late Mr S. Tiwari", The Straits Times (Home) (reproduced on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website), p. B2, archived from the original on 2 August 2010.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Melissa Sim; Leow Si Wan (27 July 2010), "Retired top public lawyer S. Tiwari dies: PM pays tribute to his public service and efforts to boost Hindi", The Straits Times (Home), p. B2, archived from the original on 1 August 2010.
  7. ↑ Legal Service Commission Annual Report 2004 (PDF), Legal Service Commission, 2004, p. 42, retrieved 2 August 2010.
  8. 1 2 3 Ong Dai Lin (27 July 2010), "Legal Service veteran Tiwari dies after complaining of headache", Today, p. 3, archived from the original on 31 July 2010.
  9. ↑ "Inquiry into Spyros disaster opens", The Straits Times, p. 1, 5 December 1978; Committee of Inquiry into the Explosion and Fire on Board S.T. Spyros (1979), The Explosion and Fire on Board S.T. Spyros, 12th October 1978: The Inquiry Report [Chairman: Michael Khoo Kah Lip], Singapore: Ministry of Labour, OCLC 226077684.
  10. ↑ "Who's who at the inquiry", The Straits Times, p. 10, 26 May 1983; "Inquiry into Sentosa cable car tragedy gets under way", The Straits Times, p. 14, 28 May 1983; "Praises all round for weary but happy Tiwari", The Straits Times, p. 8, 13 August 1983; Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Collision of the Drillship Eniwetok with the Sentosa Cableway on 29 January 1983 [Chairman: Lai Kew Chai], Singapore: Singapore National Printers, 1983, ISBN 978-9971-88-015-6.
  11. ↑ Paul Wee (27 March 1986), "Big probe begins with 6-hour meeting", The Straits Times, p. 15; "Inquiry to throw light on the hotel collapse begins", The Straits Times, p. 1, 29 May 1986; "Who's who at the inquiry", The Straits Times, p. 15, 30 May 1986; Wong Ai Kwei; Judy Tan (9 October 1986), "Tiwari on how to rectify weaknesses in system", The Straits Times, p. 12; Report of the Inquiry into the Collapse of Hotel New World [Chairman: L.P. Thean], Singapore: Printed for the Government of Singapore by Singapore National Printers, 1987, OCLC 24545169.
  12. ↑ Abdul Wahab bin Sulaiman v. Commandant, Tanglin Detention Barracks [1985–1986] S.L.R.(R.) [Singapore Law Review (Reissue)] 7, High Court; Ben Davidson (8 January 1985), "High Court has no power to review ruling: Military Court of Appeal a superior court, says judge", The Straits Times, p. 9. For commentary on the decision, see Victor Leong Wai Meng; Roland Samosir (1986), "Forever Immune? Abdul Wahab b. Sulaiman v. Commandant, Tanglin Detention Barracks", Malaya Law Review, 28: 303–322; Wilson Wong Wie Sarn (1986), "Case Comment: Abdul Wahab Bin Sulaiman v Commandant, Tanglin Detention Barracks", Singapore Law Review, 7: 60–67; Edmund Kronenburg; Eric Lie; Cosmas Wong (1993), "Civil Jurisdiction in the Military Courts: An Unnecessary Overlap? An Evaluation of Section 112 of the Singapore Armed Forces Act", Singapore Law Review, 14: 320–350.
  13. ↑ Internal Security Act (Cap. 143, 1985 Rev. Ed.).
  14. ↑ [1988] 1 S.L.R.(R.) 464, H.C.; Ben Davidson (28 May 1988), "High Court dismisses applications of three: Hearing on writ to free ISA detainees", The Straits Times, p. 21.
  15. ↑ [1988] 2 S.L.R.(R.) 30, H.C.; "Detained lawyer's application dismissed: Sole discretion of Minister to decide on prejudicial acts: Judge", The Straits Times, p. 13, 3 August 1988.
  16. ↑ [1988] 2 S.L.R.(R.) 525, Court of Appeal.
  17. ↑ [1989] 1 S.L.R.(R) 461, H.C.; [1990] 1 S.L.R.(R) 347, C.A. See Han Fook Kwang; Sumiko Tan (14 September 1989), "Govt not obliged to show any evidence in ISA cases: Tiwari", The Straits Times, p. 24; Han Fook Kwang (15 September 1989), "Amendments to ISA valid, says Tiwari: 'Parliament did not usurp judiciary'", The Straits Times, p. 29; Sumiko Tan (17 November 1989), "Court reserves judgment at end of 4-day hearing", The Straits Times, p. 23; Sumiko Tan (4 April 1990), "Court dismisses fourth appeal by ISA detainee Teo Soh Lung", The Straits Times, p. 23.
  18. ↑ Singapore copyright champion, S. Tiwari, dies, International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations, 2010, archived from the original on 2 August 2010, retrieved 2 August 2010.
  19. ↑ See, for instance, Zarine Merchant Nandan (12 September 1979), "Singapore's team at talks [Eighth United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea] small but ship-shape", The Straits Times, p. 5.
  20. ↑ Chronological lists of ratifications of, accessions and successions to the Convention and the related Agreements as at 01 March 2010, United Nations, 1 March 2010, archived from the original on 2 August 2010, retrieved 2 August 2010.
  21. ↑ "Singapore and Malaysia agree to fix new boundary", The Straits Times, p. 3, 30 July 1993; "Pact on boundary in Straits of Johor: Ismail Kassim Agreement reached after 14 years of negotiations", The Straits Times, p. 1, 15 October 1994.
  22. ↑ Press release: Order in the Case Concerning Land Reclamation by Singapore in and around the Straits of Johor (Malaysia v. Singapore) [ITLOS/Press 84] (PDF), International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), 8 October 2003, archived from the original (PDF) on 9 October 2006, retrieved 30 August 2010; see also Case concerning Land Reclamation by Singapore in and around the Straits of Johor (Malaysia v. Singapore), Provisional Measures: Minutes of Public Sittings Held on 25, 26 and 27 September and on 8 October 2003, ITLOS, 16 January 2009, archived from the original (DOC) on 2 August 2010, retrieved 2 August 2010.
  23. ↑ "Endowments board members", The Straits Times, p. 12, 7 August 1983.
  24. ↑ Prabhavathi Nair (13 October 1989), "Celebration of the triumph of good over evil", The Straits Times, p. 6, The guest of honour will be Mr S. Tiwari, senior state counsel and member of the Hindu Advisory Board.; About us, Hindu Endowments Board, 2006, archived from the original on 23 June 2008, retrieved 1 August 2010.
  25. ↑ "Sivakant Tiwari [condolence notice]", The Straits Times, p. B10, 27 July 2010, With Deepest Sympathy and Heartfelt Condolences to the Family of our former Board Member ... From: Chairman, Board Members, Management and Staff of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore.
  26. ↑ China – Measures Affecting the Protection and Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights: Constitution of the Panel Established at the Request of the United States: Note by the Secretariat, World Trade Organization, 13 December 2007, archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2010, retrieved 2 August 2010.
  27. ↑ IP Academy Singapore Annual Report 2008/2009, IP Academy, 2009, p. 5, archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2010, retrieved 2 August 2010.
  28. ↑ "Shri Sivakant Tiwari [condolence notice]", The Straits Times, p. B12, 29 July 2010, Shri Sivakant Tiwari / 20/12/45 to 26/7/10 / President, Hindi Society (Singapore) / Principal, Hindi Centres ... As the Founding President of Hindi Society (Singapore), Shri Sivakant Tiwari played a key role in guiding the growth and development of the Society and was instrumental in educating thousands of students in their mother tongue – Hindi.; Stuti Datta (28 July 2010), "Tiwari-ji a visionary and wonderful person [letter]", The Straits Times, [T]o us students, past and present, of the Hindi Society (Singapore), he was our principal – fondly known as Tiwari-ji. I studied almost 12 years of Hindi under his expert guidance, and Mr Tiwari is inextricable from my memories of Hindi school. For those of us who were part of the annual Hindi Centres Day awards ceremony, which he had presided over last Saturday evening, his passing is even more acute. ... So we grieve the premature passing of Tiwari-ji, a visionary in our eyes and, above all, to those who knew him, a wonderful human being.
  29. ↑ History of the Hindi Society, Hindi Society (Singapore), 17 November 2009 [2002], archived from the original on 28 October 2007, retrieved 1 August 2010.
  30. ↑ "Mr S Tiwari [condolence notice]", The Straits Times, p. B11, 28 July 2010, With Deepest Sympathy / to the Family of the late / Mr S Tiwari / Vice-President, Board for the Teaching and Testing of South Asian Languages.
  31. ↑ "Shri Sivakant Tiwari [obituary notice]", The Straits Times, p. B11, 28 July 2010.
  32. ↑ "MM: Late Tiwari an outstanding legal public officer", The Straits Times (Home), p. B6, 31 July 2010; see also "Minister Mentor pays tribute to late Legal Service veteran S Tiwari", Weekend Today, p. 8, 31 July – 1 August 2010, archived from the original on 31 July 2010.
  33. ↑ "The award winners", The Straits Times, p. 5, 9 August 1984; "President honours eight public administrators", The Straits Times, p. 13, 24 November 1984. See also "Promotion for 21 legal officers", The Straits Times, p. 14, 15 August 1984.
  34. ↑ "Medals they received", The Straits Times, p. 22, 26 August 1996.
  35. ↑ "National Day Awards 2000", The Straits Times, p. 39, 10 August 2000.

References

Further reading

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